30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
Hebrews 11:30 (ESV)
Another famous Sunday school lesson and source for a few songs – Joshua and the battle of Jericho. In case you don’t remember the details in Joshua 6, Israel finally made it to the promised land. They had miraculously crossed the Jordan River and were now ready for their first battle in the promised land. The city of Jericho lay before them.
The “battle” plan
It actually wasn’t even a battle, because the enemy did not dare come out to fight. God had Israel send the priests with the ark and some fighting men to walk around the city one time for 6 days. On the seventh day they walked around 7 times and then blew the trumpet and yelled.
The faith test
Can you imagine what Joshua must have been thinking when God told him the battle plan for conquering Jericho? They had just miraculously crossed the Jordan River so his faith level was pretty high. But this had to put a real pause in his step. “Is that really you, God?”, he may have asked. “You want us to do what?!” And then imagine him trying to tell the people what the plan was! This was a huge test of faith – different from Abraham’s and different from Moses’s.
What matters?
He believed. They believed. Amazing faith! Remember Hebrews 11:1 (ESV): “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” They hoped to conquer the promised land and Jericho was first. With their eyes they could see the impenetrable walls before them. By eyes of faith, they could see the walls removed. They believed.
The result
The walls of Jericho fell down. Per God’s command, every living thing was killed – except Rahab and those in her family that also had faith. (We’ll hear her story tomorrow.) Have you experienced this kind of test where God asked you to do what seemed crazy? Share it with us. What about loving your enemies? Trusting Him with your finances and giving up that thing you had saved up to buy? Obeying your authority when they expect you to do what doesn’t make sense or doesn’t seem fair? These all are His commands for us that take faith to follow.
TIP: A tool I use to compare verses in multiple Bible versions: https://thebible.org/gt/index
